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“What would be wrong?” She blinked back at him with false innocence. “My big, bad-assed brother and cousins decided I needed a watchdog, and I was stupid enough to agree to let you stay. Hell, I thought you’d at least protest. ”
“Why would I do that?” he asked quietly. “I don’t want to see you hurt. Those letters are serious, Janey.
Someone wants to hurt you. ”
“Someone wants to hurt my feelings and run me out of town,” she argued, fighting to keep her tone placid. “You’re the one that ran to Natches and the others like a damned spy. ”
“So I’m the one being punished?” He stroked her arm as he released her, running the backs of his fingers down it, and nothing more.
He stepped back. As though he remembered he shouldn’t touch her.
“Yeah. Something like that. ” She moved away from him.
She made it as far as the couch.
“How long did they give you for the food?” he asked.
“Forty minutes. ” She shrugged, sliding back into her seat and reaching for her wine.
“Enough time. ”
Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice. He was stalking toward the couc
h. He’d shed his jacket; the dark T-shirt stretched across powerful shoulders and biceps. His jeans were snug, clearly revealing the erection she had refused to check for earlier.
“For what?” Her voice was weak, breathless.
She was a fool. She should put her foot down right now, let him know she wasn’t going to be a toy for him any more than she would be for anyone else.
But then he knelt in front of her. Slowly, his hands cupped over her knees and drew her thighs apart, wide enough for him to slide between them.
“Don’t do this. ” Her hands moved to his shoulders, but she wasn’t pushing him away.
What he did to her should be illegal. He made her weak, made her unwilling to fight.
“I don’t think I can help it, Janey. ” He slid his hands up her thighs, the heat of his palms burning her through the cotton pants she wore. “I didn’t sleep worth shit last night. ”
That made two of them. But this wasn’t going to help either of them sleep at night, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to help her keep her heart shielded against him.
“You were too busy plotting to sleep,” she accused him. “You didn’t have to tell Natches about those letters. ”
“Yeah, I did. ” His gray eyes were darker, his lashes surrounding them like a heavy shadow. “I won’t let you be hurt. ”
Janey pressed back into the couch cushions behind her. She could smell him, and she needed to escape the dark, heated scent.
“Take your shirt off for me, Janey,” he whispered. “Let me see you. Just a little bit. ”
Her nipples peaked harder than they were before.
She licked her lips, her breathing becoming rougher, harder, as his gaze latched on to that action.
“I dare you,” he challenged her. “Come on, Janey. Tease me. I give you permission. ”
“Tease you?” she repeated. “I have a feeling it would be like a lamb teasing a wolf, Alex. We’ve already established the fact that you can make me respond. ”
“Make you respond?” His thumbs rotated inside her thighs. “Do I force you to respond, Janey?”
“Don’t play word games with me,” she protested, hating this response to him, hating herself for being so weak.
